Shea Weber the 'obvious choice' to become Canadiens' captain

Julian McKenzie

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Shea Weber the 'obvious choice' to become Canadiens' captain image

BROSSARD -- It didn't take long for the Canadiens to find their next captain.

Three weeks after dealing Max Pacioretty to the Golden Knights, the Canadiens named veteran defenseman Shea Weber the 30th captain in franchise history. He will be joined in the leadership group by Brendan Gallagher and Paul Byron, who will both wear an "A" on their sweater this season.

“It’s an honour for me to be named captain of the Montreal Canadiens today,” Weber said to the press gallery in attendance. “We’re going to do our best to install pride and bring this team back to success,”

 

 

Weber was named captain even though he is expected to be sidelined until at least December following off-season knee surgery. The 33-year-old Weber is under contract, though, for another seven years -- with an annual cap hit of $7.857 million

Canadiens general manager Marc Bergevin didn’t give his team’s fan base much time to speculate about a future captain when he implied they’d be picking a new leader on Radio-Canada’s Tout Le Monde en Parle show on Sunday. And it seems their new leader hasn’t given his family all that much notice either.

"They don’t know yet,” Weber said, before a chorus of reporters echoed laughter. As he realized the press conference was being streamed live, the defenseman then said, “Well, they probably know now”.

 

 

Bergevin confirmed that he and head coach Claude Julien discussed Weber being captain following the Pacioretty trade. The two repeatedly reinforced that the decision to make Weber captain was “unanimous” and that a vote wasn’t necessary, unlike in 2015 which resulted in Pacioretty becoming captain.

“The choice was obvious,” Bergevin said. “The players all feel the same way. We all feel the same way that Shea is the right guy to lead this team. We didn’t want to wait. Training camp is over, season starts on Wednesday. Today was the perfect day to make the announcement.”

“The three guys who were named leaders, the rest of the guys were extremely happy for them,” Julien said. “I like our group this year. They seem to be supportive of one another. We made our decision because we didn’t feel we needed to vote, it would’ve resulted in the same choice,”

 

 

Weber was traded by the Predators to the Canadiens in 2016, in exchange for defenseman P.K Subban. The B.C. native was previously the Preds captain, spending six seasons wearing the "C" in Nashville. Weber said he’s learned from previous leaders such as Greg Zanon, who took him under their wings.

"I had a lot of free meals then,” Weber said. “It was a lot easier back then, I could walk 10 doors down and hang out with them and not feel so lonely. Those guys were instrumental in showing me the way,”

Since his days as a pro finding his way with the Milwaukee Admirals of the American Hockey League, Weber has since won two Olympic Gold medals with Canada and made six All-Star Game appearances. All the while, he’s made his presence felt as a leader while building a reputation as a player who can make his teammates comfortable.

“I think everyone on the team is as important as the next guy,” Weber said. “I think the biggest thing is to make everyone feel that way. Whether you play two minutes or 25 minutes, you’re going to make a difference at some point throughout the season or in the playoffs.”

Julian McKenzie